Questions For: Briana Shean

Central Coast Hour Exchange

SHEAN Forty years ago from Dr. Edgar Cahn. … In this area, we’re about maybe two, three months old, but the larger organization is maybe 40 years old, and it’s worldwide.

NEW TIMES What professions do you have?

SHEAN It’s really everything. … We have some typical things like people who are willing to do household things and they’ve been in construction for 30 years. … There are people who are massage therapists. There are people who are willing to help shut-ins with a phone call every day, or run errands.

NEW TIMES How far spread is it?

SHEAN Even in the U.S., there are something like 400 groups and some are as large as 3,000 members. So they even have professionals offering legal services. I’ve met with people in this area who love financial planning … you can continue to do that and then turn it into someone vacuuming your house for you.

NEW TIMES What are the benefits of cutting out money?

SHEAN It’s not taxable—unlike barter exchange, where you need to find somebody else to mutually exchange with and be happy with the imbalance, because there usually is. … Because it’s not monetized, it’s not taxable. And that gets a lot of people excited.